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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25557388">DOG TAGS</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhenomenalBrat/pseuds/PhenomenalBrat'>PhenomenalBrat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>#DANSENFICWEEK, Angst, F/F, James olsen (mentioned) - Freeform, Kara danvers ( mentioned), Lena Luthor (mentioned) - Freeform, Nia nal ( mentioned), Querl dox ( mentioned)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:48:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,887</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25557388</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhenomenalBrat/pseuds/PhenomenalBrat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex finds some military dog tags in a box under the bed and they aren't Kellys' tags.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>#DansenFicWeek - July/August 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>DOG TAGS</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dog Tags </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>( Dansen, background Supercorp, mentions of Brainia)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Authors notes: This is my submission for #DansenFicWeek2020.  The prompt was "sentimental"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Authors' notes 2: Kelly kept a small military momento that belonged to her ex fiancé and Alex finds it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Authors' notes 3: Technically this story will take place in the same Timeline as the shadow hand saga but it happens much later and it can totally stand on its own without needing to be attached to the series.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>By: PhenomenalBrat </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly stood in the doorway of the bedroom looking over at Alex who was on the floor looking down at a pair of shiny metal, military dog tags attached to a chain. Alex was probably reading the names and realizing whose tags those were. There were two sets there and Kelly really didn't know if she wanted to talk about either one. Alex didn't seem to have realized Kelly was even in the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex put the dog tags back as carefully as possible,  laying them on top of a handful of old pictures Kelly kept in that box as well. Kelly was trying to decide whether to leave before Alex saw her or what, but she never got the chance as Alex slid the box under the bed and turned, seeing her standing there. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I- Kelly-" Alex looked at her for a moment and seemed to be trying to gauge her feelings or perhaps determine how long Kelly herself had been standing there. " I wasn't- I was looking for disc and I thought you might have-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly was simply nodding, hoping they could side step this conversation. "Oh. The disc Lena wanted from work? Right. I-uhm-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah those ones. Kara wanted me to drop-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I already took care of it." Kelly tells her, trying to seem nonchalant and breezy, like Alex hasn't just found her </span>
  <em>
    <span>grief </span>
  </em>
  <span>box hidden under the bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sorry about- I wasn't looking through-" Alex was trying again to explain as she looked back down at the box. "It was unlocked. "Those are your Dads' tags right? His and your Ex?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly felt kinda stupid now. She usually just kept that stuff locked in the little grey lock box. She didn't even look at it all the time. It was more like a quiet keep sack. Today was the anniversary of Talas' death. Tala Valhid,  just Ta or just Val; Kelly was really the only one who called her Ta or Val. Everyone else had been a bit nervous with her. Although the benefit of rolling in the sheets and being engaged to Val had probably had something to do with that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had Talas' tags in there with her dads. The anniversary of his death was only about 2 weeks after Vals. The universe was sometimes morose like that. It served double doses of grief sometimes and God knows, grief wasn't linear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly had completely forgotten to lock or even close the box after looking through it this morning or rather last night, so she couldn't really blame Alex here.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah. Today's the uhm- It's been 3 years now for Tala- for -since she uhm-" Kelly tries to make it seem okay. She doesn't wanna start talking and lacerate open her old wounds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh...Kelly…" Alex stands up, and steps towards her. " Are you okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's- I was just being sentimental. I'm-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex pulls her into a hug.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hugging Alex is warm, soft and perfect. It's like coming home after being lost outside.Kelly hadn't even realized how much she really did just need to be held that day as she had unconsciously thrown up her walls to go through the motions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There's nothing wrong with being sentimental. "Alex tells her, as she rubs Kellys' back in comforting circles and pulls her tighter." Why didn't you-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Say something?" Kellys' guesses that's what Alex wants to ask. She rested her head on Alex' shoulder, closing her eyes to suppress the tears she can feel building as she thinks of the answer to that question.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>           .               .             .              .</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>(3 years ago)</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Kelly back hit the wall of their apartment...her apartment she supposed. Technically Tala had her own place.. She sank to the floor, trembling as sobs racked her body. Val...Tala was gone...or she would be soon.. Her own hand pressed over her mouth was the only thing stopping her from screaming. She lay down on her side to calm herself somehow, trying to slow her breathing. They wouldn't let her in to check on Val. Things weren't looking good. She'd taken 4 bullets. She wasn't gonna make it and she wasn't gonna be able to even say goodbye. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What could she say tho. ' Let me in to see my girlfriend...my fiancé, whom I'm dating against the rules cause shes my commanding officer and we're gay?' Obviously not. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She had sat around, desperately trying to get any news at all for hours but eventually had to leave after she nearly flew into a rage and decked McClanahan, for saying he thought, 'the demon Sargent would have nine lives or something, and he was shocked she could even be hurt.'</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She hated hospitals. Hospitals had over time become a silent trigger for despair in her soul, as far back as her childhood. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>On a table by the door was a picture of Tala wearing the jacket Kelly got in Highschool when she was on the soccer team. Her hair was down and she was in jeans and a black t-shirt in the picture. She was sitting on the porch porch swing smiling. It had been taken just a week after she proposed to Kelly. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The picture itself lit up dark corners of Kellys' heart when she looked at it. At least, it used to do that. Now it just felt like a burning reminder of what she was about to lose. She could practically feel the loss like a sharp blade cutting her open, wounding her in ways that might never fully heal. ' only family was allowed back. Rules are rules.' She was Family though. Val was her family.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>RING RING!!!!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The phone was loud. It sounded like a death bell. Kelly moved across the floor, to pick it up.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"Hey Olsen." Andrew's voice on the other side, sounded flat. " Sarge didn't make it. I just got the word. I'm letting everyone in the unit know." </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Kelly struggled to form words in reply. Her chest felt tight. Her body ached. Her throat seemed to clog. She had known this was going to happen but hadn't been really prepared as some part of her mind tried to hold out hope that some miracle would fix things. Like an out of body experience,  she had from time to time she saw herself holding the phone in that moment and flashed between herself and her mother in a very similar position. Every inch of her wanted to just run as she found herself shaking and simply hung up without word, collapsing back to the floor.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>            .            .            .            .</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>(Present)</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"It's just an old-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kelly, you don't have to dismiss your own pain. Anything that's hurting you-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly sighed, taking a breath as she pulled back from the hug, not wanting Alex to sense how shakey she could feel her getting. She walked over and sat on the bed. Alex watched her, patiently waiting, moving closer but not reaching out to touch her just then. She seemed to sense Kellys' momentary need for space as Kelly fought her own reckless emotions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I- part of me is just scared that- I don't know- This is important to me. Like I need to remember them but it hurts to think about and it hurts not to think about. Dad, then Val, then Val then Dad then almost- almost James and this time of year." She looks up at Alex, trying to be as clear as she can but still trying not to dump the overflow of her own grief on people."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kelly, you're allowed to be hurting too." Alex sat down on the bed now, looking at her. "I love you. You know that right?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly nodded leaning towards Alex almost as an automatic reflex.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I tried to call James. I rang his number but then, I hung up last night. I- I didn't want to trigger him, just cause I was-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex pulled her back into a hug then, turning and laying them down on the bed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly just breathed Alex into her senses letting her girlfriend hold her and soothe her muted grief, that had stabbed at her, like a blunted knife all day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Tell me anything. I'm listening."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Aren't Brainy and Nia expecting us for dinner?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Dinner can wait." Alex told her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly lay there in silence for a few moments, trying to collect her thoughts. Finally she spoke. "With my dad it was...complicated. James got his camera. He gave me the tags to hold onto. He said he was gonna get them from me when he came back. He just-" She trailed off leaving the obvious part unspoken. "I'm not usually so…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> "Maybe...maybe everything that happened in the past two months has just piled on. " Alex suggested.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just six weeks ago Alex had been shot in front of Kelly. Kelly had shot the asshole who shot Alex and it had just been a lot piled on top of each other. The rationale side of Kellys' mind knew that it was perfectly reasonable for her to be hurting and more on edge than normal, all things considered.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>              .            .            .           .</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>( Last night)</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Kelly awoke, tense, heart racing from the nightmare that had plagued her sleep. It was a twisted mixing of the memory of Alex getting shot then Val then the haunting ghost of her dads'  last promise. She had been nearly paralyzed in her nightmare as she watched the looming shadow of death swallow them, as she had screamed and begged and pleaded and perhaps as some kind odd mercy her brain had finally violently catapulted her out of the nightmare.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Kelly had bit her own arm, muffling her gasps and trying to calm herself.  Alex slept beside her, resting and breathing easy and that alone had calmed her left over anxiety.  Then perhaps in a moment of weakness, she had reached under the bed, touching that little locked box that she kept as if some irrational part of her was still waiting for Val and her dad to come back and get their dog tags, like momentos she had to keep safe. She had open the box using a tiny key she had on a keyring  and calmed herself, looking at the pictures and tags like they were some emotional security blanket. She hadn't even bothered or remembered to close it back up as she pushed it under the bed and drifted off to sleep.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>                .            .          .           .</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>(Present)</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>"</b>
  <span>How about I order pizza, call Brainy and Nia and reschedule dinner and we rest." Alex told her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kelly couldn't argue with that.  After going none stop, that's exactly what she needed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Perfect." She told Alex.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex kissed her on the forehead, moving to grab the phone and Kelly thought, just maybe she was gonna be okay with today in a way she hadn't been in the past three years.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>            .               .              .             .</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>FIN</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thanks for reading.  Please leave comments, kudos or Questions or reasonable criticism. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
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</p>
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